CM again holds reviews Char Dham Yatra arrangements amid allegations of mismanagement
By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 17 May: Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami again held a review meeting on Char Dham Yatra arrangements here, today, in view of the allegations of mismanagement.
During the meeting, the CM sought detailed feedback on various arrangements from the District Magistrates of the districts along the Char Dham Yatra.
After the meeting, he also reached Barkot and Yamunotri to take stock of the arrangements at Ground Zero.
In the meeting, the CM asked the officials to strictly implement his instructions. He also directed that offline registration be postponed for the time being till the situation eases.
Dhami instructed the secretaries of all departments related to the Char Dham Yatra to continuously monitor all the arrangements related to their departments and to send senior officials to the spot. All the officers should fully cooperate with the District Magistrates and SPs of the districts associated with the Char Dham Yatra in ensuring adequate and appropriate travel arrangements. The CM warned that any kind of negligence in travel arrangements will not be tolerated.
The Chief Minister directed the officials to ensure that all the basic facilities like drinking water, food, milk for children, toilets and electricity and other facilities like places to rest and sleep be provided to the pilgrims at all the designated halts.
For the sake of better crowd-management and for the convenience of the devotees, alternative routes should also be arranged as per the requirement. The devotees should also be given information about these alternate routes. He instructed the Secretary, Transport, that special care be taken of the fitness of the vehicles. If any vehicle is running on the Yatra route without fitness certificate, the responsibility for this should be fixed on the transport officers concerned. Offline registration should be postponed for the time being.
The Chief Minister sought detailed information about the Kedarnath Yatra from District Magistrate (DM) Rudraprayag. DM, Rudraprayag, Saurabh Gaharwar claimed that the Yatra at Kedarnath is going on smoothly. He added that, today, more than11,000 devotees had already visited Kedarnath shrine while 8,000 pilgrims reached today for darshan on foot. He also claimed that all basic facilities are being provided to the devotees at the halting places. He added that the arrangements for vehicular movement on the Yatra route are being monitored from the control room through CCTV cameras. Gaharwar added that adequate police force has been arranged on the yatra route for traffic-management. The DM claimed that he personally oversaw the Yatra arrangements from Rudraprayag to Gaurikund last evening.
While sharing details of his visit to Gangotri and Yamunotri Dham, District Magistrate (DM), Uttarkashi, Dr Meharban Singh Bisht said that 11,000 devotees are expected to visit Gangotri Dham and 10,000 devotees were expected to visit Yamunotri Dham today. All basic facilities are being provided at the places where arrangements have been made for stay of the devotees. SP, Uttarkashi, informed the CM that some people have been found with fake registrations, against whom strict action is being taken. District Magistrate, Chamoli, Himanshu Khurana said that the Yatra at Badrinath Dham is going on smoothly. All arrangements are being made in view of the spike in the number of devotees this year and in view of upcoming holidays.
